Teaware for the office.

[uthscsa19]

I am a newbie to tea, and I've been drinking tea on and off for about a year. As I spend a majority of my week at work, I would like to replace my usual soft drink with tea. I have already purchased an electric kettle for the office and have access to filter/distilled water, I now need some help with an easy, affordable way of steeping the tea.

I have a ingenuiTEA at home, but it is not as easy to clean at work and it involves having both the ingenuiTEA and the seperate drinking cup which take up space on an already crowded desk. I am wondering if the classic tea ball/tea basket is my best bet, or buying teabags to load my loose leaf tea would be better. I would like to keep it simple, and only involve my drinking mug and not much else (desk space is limited).

Any help would be gladly appreciated.

[el gringo]

I was in the same predicament as you recently and decided to go with the tea ball idea. Its certainly not the best option, but is the easiest I could come up with.

I tried my standard tie guan yin with it and wasn't to happy with the results, but I've found that a nice dian hong works well with this set up.

Like has been said on this board a number of times before; brew how you like and like how you brew.

[MarshalN]

I'd suggest brewing grandpa style. Teaballs are terrible abominations.

http://www.marshaln.com/whats-grandpa-style/

Unless you want to go to "gaiwan + cup" route, but that's usually more trouble than most people are willing to deal with.

[uthscsa19]

While the grandpa style sounds interesting, I am not a big fan of tea leaves in my cup. If there was a cup with a fine mesh strainer that allowed the leaves to sit and steep in the cup then I'd try it out. I may visit a World Market this weekend to see if I can find such a cup.

[TomVerlain]

Bodum tea press - since you "press" down to isolate the tea leaves from the water, you "stop" brewing. Then for the next pot, raise the press, pour in the boiling water, and press again to stop brewing. Works ok for TGY and other loose tea. I really use mine only for Chai, I have seperate pots for pu'erh and oloongs

[hopeofdawn]

The Liquid Solutions Tea Tumbler is my every day cup for the office--it's a clear double-walled thermos with a cap (I work around computers, so that's a requirement) and a nice big brew basket that you can lift out to keep your tea from oversteeping. I've brewed literally everything in it--TGY, jasmine pearls, black tea, etc--the only thing you couldn't brew in it is the ground up black tea, I think. I really recommend it for anyone who doesn't have the space for a regular teaware setup, or needs the extra convenience.

[bearsbearsbears]

While the grandpa style sounds interesting, I am not a big fan of tea leaves in my cup. If there was a cup with a fine mesh strainer that allowed the leaves to sit and steep in the cup then I'd try it out. I may visit a World Market this weekend to see if I can find such a cup.

Bodum makes this as well. A mesh strainer + double-walled glass cup combination. The double walled glass has the benefit of insulating the tea to keep it hot, keeping your fingers cool, and being able to see the brewed tea color. Some people don't like the contemporary design aesthetic, tho.

[cryptickoi]

the Piao I may be worth a look...

[bearsbearsbears]

the Piao I may be worth a look...

They also make these in cup versions now, but the "dumping" mechanism is easily broken.

[cryptickoi]

thanks BBB...i havent used mine a ton so i havent run into that problem as of yet....

[bearsbearsbears]

thanks BBB...i havent used mine a ton so i havent run into that problem as of yet....

Heh. I must have had lead fingers when I owned one

[twinofmunin]

When brewing non-sencha at work (I just got a cheapie kyuusu for work sencha), I use a Republic of Tea (I think) nylon infuser basket... simple to use and clean out, and allows a good deal of space for leaf expansion if you have teas that require it.

[uthscsa19]

I made a trip to Teavana and purchased a small cast iron teapot that is easy to clean and use. I can't wait to set it up and try it out on Monday. Thank you all for your advice and help.

http://www.teavana.com/tea-products/tea ... ron-teapot

[Chip]

By any chance, did they tell you that the cast iron pot was the best pot for brewing tea?

What is the capacity? Never mind ... looked it up, 21 ounces is a lot of tea.

Thanks.

[cryptickoi]

BBB,did you mean the plunger(button)?come to think of it i did have an issue with that but it was easily fixed...